Primal (2010) Reviews

• A Nutshell Review: Primal

  DICK STEEL2010-03-24

  Written, directed and produced by Josh Reed, Primal may seem like your typical violent monster / slasher flick, but in following formula the film did turn out to be rather enjoyable, if not cliché, but it worked. The opening scene some 12000 years ago gives us the premise where a caveman tries to communicate the presence of an unknown beast, only to be devoured very quickly before fast forwarding to today, with 6 travelling friends on a road trip to that exact same location for a camp and a hike. The film takes the first 30 minutes to cue us in on the characters, given that with an ensemble, we expect certain molds to be adopted. For instance, there's always the ditzy, loud mouthed and slutty blonde (Krew Boylan) who's in the trip for some forest romp with studious looking boyfriend Chad (Lindsay Farris), who had enough when she starts to openly flirt with the alpha male of the group, Dace (Wil Traval), who's take away from the trip is the mysterious painting seen in the opening shot. Throw in the others like the group joker Warren (Damien Freeleagus), simple follower Kris (Rebekah Foord) and the one whom you know is more than meets the eye given the token phobia she must overcome at some point (Anja, played by Zoe Tuckwell-Smith), you have the requisite group for one heck of a monster attack. I would liken the genre as an opportunity to study character dynamics and behaviours when placed under extremely stressful situations, such as the tendency for some to talk a lot without action, or to arrow others to perform various dirty-work What more, it gets interesting because the great unknown happens to be manifested into one of their own, so existential questions get called into the picture, especially when one gets transformed into a blood lusting beast with plenty of fang-like teeth replacing the human ones, extreme dexterity (an ability that varies its effectiveness from time to time) and a nasty violent temper, coupled with some nasty makeup to complete the revolting look set to strike fear. There's the decision to play who lives and who dies, and as the audience you get roped in, based on past experience in similar genre films, to play guess who's next, as we listen in on all the bickering and disagreements, plus the warning signs that the characters themselves fail to heed. Of course these disagreements get chopped down to manageable size when the body count increases, and part of the guilty fun is to identify and apply genre clichés over the film and see if they still hold water. Most do. For those into bloody gore, there are enough moments in Primal that are graphic enough to make you squirm, since the acts of violence are unflinching. The story gets built up quite nicely into the last hurrah, where unfortunately some really raw looking special effects set in a cave drew unnecessary attention to itself, and marred the experience of the crescendo carefully crafted.

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• All those teeth...

  celr2011-03-09

  I mostly hate those so-called 'slasher flicks' which feature a group of witless, narcissistic and dim-witted teenagers (or vapid 20 somethings) who go out into the woods and are picked off one by one by either a madman seeking vengeance or some restless supernatural entity. This one pretty much follows the formula except it's a rather good example of the genre. The acting isn't that bad and the pacing is really good. The campers all have distinct characters. Once you accept the premise that some kind of supernatural virus is on the loose in an isolated part the Outback which turns people into carnivorous predators you can watch the group try to work together to survive. Sometimes they get hysterical, and sometimes they do really stupid things but sometimes they actually make intelligent moves. In any case I was entertained.

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• Great B-movie horror fun until the last 20 minutes

  scarletheels2011-12-12

  Formulaic B-movie horror flick about a group of 20-somethings that venture into the Australian wilderness with their anthropologist friend, Dace (played the very buff and very sexy Wil Traval), to study an ancient cave painting. It's paced well and it's not too long into the movie that Chad's free-spirited girlfriend, Mel, begins a horrific transformation into a frenzied predator that stalks them one by one. For the gorehounds, there are rocks bashing heads in, teeth falling out, flesh ripping, cannibalism, and much more. Veteran horror fans, it's nothing you haven't witnessed before. The film borders on cheesy but, I have to be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie until the last 20 minutes or so, when the special effects department decided to throw in some hokey CGI and a bizarre attempted impregnation scene between Anja and a seven foot cave-dwelling slug. Primal isn't so much scary as it is intense. There are quite a few white knuckle moments, as well as a couple of holy sh*t, what the hell was that scenes that will stun and amuse you. It's almost devoid of gratuitous nudity since Mel's transformation from cute blond chick to ravenous killer with three inch fangs happens fairly quickly (sorry, men). Definitely not recommended to the squeamish type or the casual viewer. If you liked movies like Cabin Fever and The Ruins, you may get a kick out of this return to Ozploitation from writer/director, Josh Reed.

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• Nice little surprise from down under

  roberthaynes2011-06-03

  I love when a little film comes out of nowhere and bites me on the behind and forces me to take it seriously whilst having a whale of a time. Primal is one such film. Sharp dialogue, believable characters and some pretty nifty visual and makeup effects make this an entertaining and undemanding, often quite subversive time waster. It's not going to win any awards but that's never the intention with a something like this. At a brisk 80 odd minutes it doesn't hang around long enough to become self indulgent or boring and just when you think you know where it's going the screenwriter throws another curve-ball your way. One satisfied customer her with a very solid seven out of ten.

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• Primal

  Scarecrow-882011-04-08

  "It's only a f-----g tunnel." A group of friends are looking for a specific mountain with centuries old paintings considered quite a find, encountering far more than they bargained for. A rabbit, insects, and leeches all exhibit signs of some sort of "rabid mutation" which causes them to hunt down and eat anything in their path, with a ferocity and deranged, uncontrollable craving for human flesh in particular. It starts with a bite, an infection sets in, moving through the blood stream, causing the victim to suffer a mutation which changes him/her into a flesh-eating , blood-thirsty savage. It's only later recognized that the paintings on the mountainous wall wasn't as much telling a story, but warning others of the terrors which lie in wait for anyone who happens to find themselves in this neck of the woods. Along with these sharp fangs which protrude from their mouths, there's a shriek the rabid buggers sound off that's unnerving to say the least. I'll say this for PRIMAL, the opening hour is really intense and white-knuckle the moment Mel (Krew Boylan) turns and the others must figure out what to do about her as she moves about, seeking prey to devour. When Mel returns after ripping through one of her friend's throats to feed on his carcass, I think we can say that all bets are off and survival is the only option, accepting the fact that what was once your friend no longer exists and only this primeval thing remains. Anja(Zoe Tuckwell-Smith) seems to be the one person who hasn't suffered some sort of infected bite. Chad 's(Lindsay Farris) arm is munched on my his beloved Mel, while Kris(Rebekah Foord) was "knicked" by the mutant rabbit. Dace(Wil Traval) merely takes in some water and not long after quickly turns. This bewildered me because Chad and Kris had been bitten by infected creatures quite a while longer and yet didn't suffer that same sort of quick mutation. No incoherent ramblings. No spitting out teeth. No carnivorous tendencies. It's odd. Oh, but the movie itself gets much odder. Mel carries the lower torsos of a victim and kangaroo—the portion she *doesn't* eat—to the tunnel Anja is afraid to enter due to severe claustrophobia (she has an "episode" early in the movie when she attempts to travel inside the tunnel) for "sustenance". We see a scene where Mel forces Anja into the opening of the tunnel where she unknowingly escapes it's "tentacles". Chad's naïveté in regards to Mel – that he will not surrender to the fact that she is not the girl he once loved—borders on absolute absurdity..there comes a time when you have to come to that realization that she's gone, especially as Mel's having a cannibal chow-down on your dead friend. Anyway, the ending when we see Kris' unfortunate fate (she's chosen to give birth and takes it upon herself to attempt an *abortion*)and an attempted rape (right out of some weird Japanese hentai )on Anja, I think the film goes a little too far, but one could make that argument during one of Mel's feeding sessions off of a male victim, with sound effects of bones crunching and ripping flesh. The kangaroo "takedown" and rabbit corpse tomfoolery offer other tasteless "highlights". Lots of graphic violence and impressive make-up effects (even the digital effects are rather well done such as when Anja hurls Mel against a tree subsequently snapping her spine or when Mel takes flight) such as flesh wounds and cannibalism, not to mention, heavy stones crushing heads. This kind of movie is designed for those not easily offended. I failed to mention Damien Freeleagus as much needed comedy relief, with the most entertaining character, Warren, with a fate most unkind.

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